Feasibility Study Results

This weekend we received the results of our Feasibility Study conducted over the month of July. We want to thank all of you who responded to the survey either online or by mail and those who agreed to be interviewed by our consultant Sarah Matthews from the Episcopal Church Foundation.

The Vestry and the Strategic Planning Committee met with Sarah Sunday evening to go over the report and ask questions. The highlights of the report are as follows:

113 households at St. Nicholas were exposed to the survey. 55 were returned for a 49% total response rate. Sarah indicated that they usually see response rates in the 20-30% range, so ours was well above that. Well done!

20% of the respondents believe the proposed goal can be attained, 59% indicated that they had no opinion, and 21% replied that they did not think St. Nicholas could raise the total goal of $1.8 million at this time.

Based on the responses of levels of giving, Sarah recommends that a primary goal of fundraising would be closer to $450,000. This gives us a good direction for how much we think we can afford.

82% of respondents indicated they would be willing to contribute to a capital campaign.

The priorities of needs indicated were across the board. 30 respondents each ranked “Double seating for worship” and “Create administrative offices” as highest priority. Twenty-nine respondents ranked “Add 2 larger classrooms” and 27 ranked “Increase nursery size.” This does not indicate a clear consensus on one particular project. (In other words, there are many needs with near-equal support from across the congregation.)

98% of those who responded were aware that St. Nicholas is considering a capital campaign. 85% were aware of the capital needs. Another 13% were aware of some but not all the needs. This indicates that the communication of the project to the congregation has been excellent.

Next Steps

1. After you look over the results, we would like to hear your feedback. This Sunday, August 26 at 9:45am, we will have an Adult Forum to give you the opportunity to reflect and give any thoughts as to what you hear God saying to us through these survey results.

2. The Vestry will meet Monday, August 27 at 6:30pm at a new meeting location at the Harris County Community Center, and will make a formal decision on what to do with this information.

As always, if you have any thoughts or questions about the survey, please contact Fr. Jeff, Senior Warden Dave Halmrast, or Strategic Planning Committee chair Scott Crowley.